Art at Belle Grove

Belle Grove invited three of our favorite local artists: Wayne Laws, Sally Veach, and Kelly Walker to display and sell their work throughout the Manor House. The show will run Wednesday, June 20--Saturday, June 23 (10am-4pm) and Sunday, June 24 (1-5pm) and is free of charge to view (there is fee for taking a house tour).

During the exhibit there are several ways to interact with the artists;

Wildflower Painting Party with Kelly Walker, Saturday, June 23, 10am-12pm
Appropriate for all ages.
Fee $30, includes all supplies.
Register here

View from Belle Grove Painting Party with Kelly Walker, Sunday, June 24, 2-4pm
Learn how to create a landscape painting step by step.
Fee $35, includes all supplies.
Register here.

Artist at Work
Wayne Laws will be painting at Belle Grove Sunday, June 24, 1-5pm.

From an early age, Wayne Laws has always had an interest in art. He pursued every opportunity available to develop his abilities, winning awards along the way. He channeled his artistic talents to theater set design, and was employed as display coordinator and buyer for several large furniture retailers. He started his own business in the 1980's. His custom paint finishes, Trompe l'Oeil, painted furniture, and murals can be found in private homes, businesses, and decorator show houses throughout this area. He is inspired daily by the world around him, and takes photos of images he later uses to create his works. Working mostly in acrylics, he paints a wide range of subjects including landscapes, still life, florals, portraits, and whimsical themes. His paintings are acrylic on canvas.

Sally Veach creates abstract, expressive landscapes of her home in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. She employs an expressive and often automatic process, and rather than rendering her subject, she relies on her keen sensitivity of color to create a feeling of being immersed in the scene. Expressing emotion and light, Sally’s paintings are built up gradually, often ending in thick, impulsive paint applications by a trowel or knife.

Sally’s art education was comprised of private tutoring as a child, a BFA from Syracuse University in 1984, and numerous master classes and workshops in recent years. She is a graduate of Nicholas Wilton’s Art2Live Creative Visionary Path and repeated studies with Mary Bentz Gilkerson. She is influenced by the Canadian Algonquin School’s Group of Seven landscape painters, the New York Post War abstract expressionists, and Richard Diebenkorn. Contemporary influences include Eric Aho and Cecily Brown.

Sally has been painting daily since 2012. Her work appears in regional and national exhibitions each year, and is held in private collections nationwide. She is currently creating a series based on the endangered barns of her hometown, which will be showcased in multiple solo exhibitions in 2018. A portion of sales from her barn-related paintings will be contributed to a fund for the preservation of Shenandoah County barns.

As a daily painter and teacher, Kelly Walker has painted almost every day since 2008. Joining the daily painting movement helped her to maintain artistic discipline, foster creativity, improved her skills and has brought her great joy.

Very much taken with subjects of everyday life from landscapes to fruit and vegetables to animals, she works in watercolor, oil, and acrylic. Working in multiple mediums keeps Kelly from being bored and gives her flexibility in subject matter. Often painting from photos in the studio, she still loves to paint in en Plein-air (outdoors) whenever possible.

Exploring a variety of styles and themes over the years has lead her to enjoying strong colors and thick paint. The appeal of the work with palette knifes and finger painting has a satisfying feel. It's the perfect technique for representational abstract work.

As a teacher she finds that keeping subjects and lines simple helps to convince people that they only thing they need to learn to paint is the desire. Kelly teaches art to
children and adults at The Studio on Main Street in Front Royal. She opened The Studio as a place for people to come to tap into their creativity without any pressure. Classes are offered in art, crochet, knitting, cookie decorating, collage, beading, cupcake decorating, sewing, embroidery and more.

Kelly is a native of Georgia where she received a BS in Secondary Education (History) from Georgia Southern College. She has been a full-time artist since 2007. Prior to that she worked in the non-profit world with Chambers of Commerce in Kentucky and Virginia.

Kelly was selected as the “Best Local Artist” by the Northern Virginia Daily 2013-1017. Kelly is active with dog rescue groups around the country often providing them with art for fund-raising. She lives and paints with Jed (a black lab-basset) and Lincoln (half wire-haired dachshund-terrier mix), both rescue dogs in Front Royal, Virginia.